The Hybrid Royals (book#2)

finding Maddy

Kylie POV

'something is wrong,' Janey says on high alert.

I wipe my mouth, trying not to be sick again. "Are you ok?" Freddy asks while stroking my back, I stand straight with a nod. "It just hit me, that's all," I say, squaring my shoulders, trying to ready myself for whatever we find.

The smell was horrendous, like pure filth. It's hard to put into words, but my eyes are starting to sting and water. My nose is stinging, and it's making me want to be sick again.

We walk in, and what I see breaks my heart.

Chained to the wall is a small figure, trying to curl up and be as small as possible. "Oh my goddess," I say, trying to keep my tears at bay, walking further in slowly. "Are.. are you ok? " I ask softly, not wanting to frighten her, walking slowly towards her. When she hears me she slowly looks up at me, frightened with tears streaming down her dirty face but I also see relief in her eyes, she notices Freddy behind me and she flinched, returning to her original position "shh it's ok, we are here to help" I say looking back at Freddy. He looked as shocked as I felt, and when his eyes met mine, he gave a small shrug of confusion.

"Who are you?" I ask quietly trying not to scare her again, the silence spread and it felt like forever until I heard a whisper of a voice "I'm Maddy" she says so quietly if I didn't have enhanced hearing I'd have missed it. Now that I'm closer to her and get a better look at her, she looks so young. "Hi Maddy, I'm Kylie, and this is my mate Freddy. How long have you been here?" I ask, and her eyes are trained on Freddy, watching his every move without giving eye contact. "I've always been here," came her reply, her voice a whisper but raspy, but I'm more confused. I look at the chain, trying to figure everything out and why she is here. My heart stops at the thought of being here with that monster. "Ok, and how old are you?" Freddy asks, and she looks pleading me to keep her safe. I give her a small smile and a nod of my head "you are safe, I promise" but my words don't make much difference to be honest, the shaking of her body doesn't stop "I'm not sure, I stopped having a birthday a while back" aww this poor girl. She is so dirty and thin. There's a bucket in the corner that is overflowing with wee and poo. That's what must be stinking the room out. How can anyone do this to a child.

I feel awful that we haven't found her sooner. We have been here days. "I'm sorry we hadn't found you sooner." I feel an overwhelming dread settle over me.

"I'm going to come in and break the chain.. ok?" Freddy asks from the doorway with his hands up, his palms facing us to show he isn't a threat as he makes his way in the room. He is trying to stand on clean floor, but that was all but possible. She shook her head with weary and scared eyes, but when freddy grabbed the chain, she cried out in pain. Welts started to appear around her neck, blistering and looking so sore. Spreading up her neck to her chin and down to her collarbones.

"IT BURNS.. PLEASE, " she screams, and Freddy drops the chain immediately, looking devastated that he hurt her. "I'm sorry, are you ok?" he asks but takes a step back, I feel his devastation through our bond. he's never hurt an innocent person before, but it wasn't intentional.

She is left sobbing and shaking more. "I'm so sorry, Maddy, I would never hurt.. are you ok?" he swallows hard at what he has just done.

"Yes. H.. He.. He had magic put on the chain, so if I.. I try and escape it will hurt me," she says, breathing heavily and trying to calm herself down.

I inch closer, not sure what to do. "How can we help you?" I ask, too scared to touch anything without her saying first. "I.. I.. can" but she is stuttering obviously scared to ask. "You can ask for anything, and we will do our best to help you, especially out of here," Freddy says, and I smile. "Can.. can I.. I get some water, " she asks, and it dawns on me of how silly we are, we have been here days, and no one wanted to enter this place. She hasn't had anything for days.

"Of course," I say, and Freddy blurrs away, coming back a couple of minutes later with a glass of water and a sandwich. He's such a sweetheart.

Maddy gulps down her water and nibbles her sandwich. "Don't force it. We can get you free, cleaned up, and then you can enjoy your meal. Ok, " I say, watching her struggle, and to be honest, the smell in here isn't helping.

"When was the last time you left this room?" Freddy asks, and we are both so confused. "I never leave this room. Dad brings me water and food and sometimes he brings someone with him to empty the bucket" what the f**k. She has been in here too long and I desperately want to free her. "Ok, so why has Achlys kept you in here?" I ask and if I'm honest I really don't want to hear the answer because only the worst pops into my head regarding Achlys "my dad said I had to learn to be obedient for when I marry Achlys, I'm his gift to his master but I needed to be kept here to.." and she stops, so who is her dad then. "Kept here for what?" Freddy asks, and he looks as devastated and confused as I feel.

"Dad said I was Achlys bride, and I needed to be pure because I would bring salvation to them all," but she cringed when she repeated it. "Well, you're free now. Well, you will be when we figure out how to get this chain off," Freddy says, and she looks relieved.

"We need to ask the girls if they know of any solutions" I say and Freddy agreed "yes they are the only ones who might know, I think" He replied "ok we need to clean up a little and cover Maddy up" I say looking around the room. I don't want to scare the girls more than they already have been.

"Ok, I'll go get a blanket," he said and left the room. I notice the window nailed shut so I break it out completely to let some air in, I also empty the bucket and blur out of her room and get towels from a bathroom close by and chuck them on the floor to soak up spillages.

"Thankyou" Maddy says quietly "your welcome" I smile "ok girls just be ready, Maddy needs our help and I'm hoping we can help" I hear him talking and walking along with little footsteps.

"He enters, and both girls are behind him. He passes me the blanket, and I wrap it around her shoulders.

"Hi girls, have you been busy?" I ask, and both their heads pop out from behind Freddy with smiles "yes" they said together, making me smile. "This is Maddy, maddy. These little monkeys are Layla and Lilley," I say, smiling at all 3 of them. Maddy was wide-eyed, amazed looking at the twins. "I remember a beautiful angel that looked just like you," Maddy said, looking intently at the girls' faces.

"Hi," Lilley said, and Layla was smiling widely. They look at the chain, without touching it but they were stumped "I'm sorry but we don't know" Layla says sadly "it's ok we will think of something else" Freddy says pacing back and forth.

'I want to level this whole place, how are we going to move forward if he is everywhere we look' I say to Freddy in our link 'I thought we would be able to but after this I agree, level and rebuild' and I totally agree, I can't keep the smile off my face.

"We need to go find someone who can help" Freddy says and turns to the door "please don't leave me alone, what if dad comes back and he sees that you have been here" she shivers in the thought of that. "How about I sit with you while Freddy tries to find someone to help?" I say, and she nods enthusiastically. Freddy and the girls head for the door before he turns around. "Can I ask who your dad is?" he asks, and the answer she gives could make me cry "Anton"...